Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry on Wednesday denied that Cambodia had blocked a reference to a United Nations -backed tribunal’s ruling against Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea in Monday’s joint Asean statement-and said the omission was, in fact, the Philippines’ decision.
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At a time of heightened tension in the contested waters, China and Russian Federation are set to hold routine joint naval exercises in the South China Sea in September.
In the wake of the ruling, China held live-firing exercises and said that it would launch regular air patrols over the South China Sea while continuing with the construction of islands equipped with harbours, airstrips and other infrastructure with military uses.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have overlapping claims with Beijing in the South China Sea, while Indonesia claims some fishing rights. China rejected the decision, which it has vowed to ignore, blasting the case brought by the Philippines as a “farce” and calling the ruling “wastepaper”. The map, which China started printing on three pages in each passport since 2012, is a source of much anger against China in Southeast Asia, because it outlines a large chunk of the South China Sea that China says belongs to it.
The tribunal ruling infuriated Beijing and fuelled tensions with Washington, which has sent naval vessels close to Chinese-claimed outcrops in recent months to assert the principle of freedom of navigation. Yujun emphasized that the drill would exclusively be meant to enhance military cooperation between the two nations and will not be targeting any country.
In May previous year, they conducted their first joint naval exercises in European waters in the Black Sea and Mediterranean, China’s farthest-ever drills from its home waters.
China has come under pressure to scale back its military operations in the South China Sea. China and the 10 ASEAN members agreed to jointly strive to boost cultural and people-to-people exchanges as the third pillar for their cooperation besides the political-security dialogue and trade and economic ties.
“We continue to restrict our navy from operating within a 12 nautical mile zone of China’s reclaimed islands, a unsafe mistake that grants de facto recognition of China’s man-made sovereignty claims”, veteran Republican Senator John McCain Arizona, seen as an expert on defence affairs, complained in 2015.
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The video was produced by China Review Studio, a group that makes low-key propaganda films featured in Chinese state media.
